North Raleigh Today

The Carolina Hurricanes are set to face the Ottawa Senators on December 13 at Lenovo Center, marking their third consecutive home game. The match will be part of Pride Night celebrations.

The Hurricanes, with a record of 18-9-1, recently secured a 3-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks. In that game, Shayne Gostisbehere opened the scoring, while Brent Burns and Jalen Chatfield contributed to a comeback in the third period. Pyotr Kochetkov was instrumental in goal with 21 saves from 23 shots.

Earlier this season, Spencer Martin achieved his first NHL shutout as the Hurricanes defeated the Senators 4-0 at Lenovo Center. Gostisbehere is currently on a point streak, having scored in eight consecutive home games. He ranks among the top five NHL defensemen with 25 points in 28 games and leads power-play points for blueliners.

Carolina's defense has been notable, contributing all three goals in their recent win over San Jose. They rank fourth in the league for scoring by defensemen with 69 points.

In net, Pyotr Kochetkov is expected to start again unless coach Rod Brind'Amour opts for Dustin Tokarski's debut as a Hurricane.

On the other side, Ottawa comes into this matchup following a decisive 5-1 win over Anaheim Ducks, led by Drake Batherson's hat-trick. Despite some inconsistency this season, they have won three of their last four games. Their power play is ranked fifth in the league at 27.6%, though their penalty kill stands at just 75.6%.

Tim Stutzle has had an impressive start to his season with Ottawa, becoming one of only three players since Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza to achieve over 36 points in the opening 28 games.

Injury updates reveal that Jack Drury is sidelined indefinitely due to a hand injury sustained recently. Goaltender Frederik Andersen will be out for up to three months following knee surgery after an October injury against Seattle. Jesper Fast was ruled out for the entire season earlier this year.

The team will don black uniforms for Friday’s game and practice Saturday ahead of Sunday’s divisional clash against Columbus at home.

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